MsMojo Launch in the Woke Era — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:08] language if you think you may be offended switch off [Applause] [Music]

[00:23] Mojo and the inside Mojo podcast where each week we talk about another key moment in watch Mojo 20y year history on YouTube I'm your host Rob with me as always watch Mojo CEO and co-founder Ashen carbis rusan happy first day of

[00:38] spring Ash yeah thank you also uh Persian Iranian New Year which coincides with the spring the beginning of Spring so yes and I did notice that we recently put out a list of the top 10 most influential Iranians which if anybody

[00:54] has seen that and thought that it was a little bit of a left field video for us to do uh you can thank Ash for coming up with that idea yeah last year I mustered the courage to finally do a related video on the Iran or ancient Persia and

[01:07] we did incredible inventions and you know it's like one of the first nation it's the oldest nation in the world going back to 3,200 before Christ so Iranians invented everything from Air Conditioning to you know the Human

[01:21] Rights was kind of first coined in the Cyrus cylinder many other things and that was kind of very tame uh and knowing me I kind of this year was like let's do something that's going to be a bit more thorny so we did uh influential

[01:34] Iranians but we didn't want to just like leave it to um you know rulers leaders Kings Shaws Supreme leaders so we uh included poets uh

[01:46] mathematicians doctors and know again most people seem to like it I mean it's interesting YouTube used to be viewed as like the armpit of the internet a Cess poool where it's like you could pick a fight over everything uh but it's

[02:02] changed and you know this year the the the whole message from YouTube and analysts is that YouTube is the new television so it's like you know the the community was rather positive but then like on X formerly known as

[02:18] Twitter understandably you get ah here we go uh understandably you get um a lot more activists and Advocates who are rather critical of the Islamic Republic

[02:30] of Iran the regime that has been in power since 1949 uh 79 when that gentleman ayat seized power and so obviously um

[02:43] ayat seized power and so obviously um you know many did not like that heni was chosen as influential even though he was ranked ninth um but as I said I go if we would have done like top 10 influential figures of the 20th century I think

[02:56] Stalin Hitler Mal Zedong would be all in it um so influential for the wrong reasons but influential nonetheless I mean it's like I always look at as their net impact um and so but at the same time I

[03:12] I was surprised that those who objected to H being included didn't notice that to H being included didn't notice that you know you had both Reza sha pavi you know you had both Reza sha pavi Muhammad Reza his son pav so you know

[03:26] and I I tried to be I mean the research we kind of researched a lot um but yeah I mean you know so this is number nine and good list fun I mean these are the ones I like more frankly I've always really been into history um there you go

[03:42] and so yeah no it was fun most people liked it and I even did like um who said influencing was easy because anytime you do anything really you know we have to do anything really you know we have to be masochist to pick yes this by the way

[03:57] was look like you're on like the dollar bill or something that's I I think how did a colleague get my passport which is a bit troubling U it was like a mosad move because I know our colleague who did it so maybe that's that's how he

[04:11] accessed it um I could make these jokes I'm a atheist and you know um and so it's funny because my mom and then we'll get to the show my mom is from a city in

[04:23] Iran that is the birthplace of uh Esther and uh I think morai who were Jewish and uh I think morai who were Jewish Iranians going back many many years and so when I did my DNA test not surprisingly you know I have some family

[04:37] like second or third degree who uh have Jewish uh ancestry and that's normal I mean it's like in Iran it's it's quite a melting po um and so my daughters were melting po um and so my daughters were like oh my God if you basically can

[04:51] point to having like Jewish DNA and even it's like 0 one% they're like then you're going to give yourself cart blanch to criticize Muslims criticize je people I'm like all I need is some black DNA and then we're set then I can just

[05:04] say whatever the entire world is your where you go I'm like Chris Rock anyway so it was a good list it was I had a ton of fun doing it and um you know but I also understand why people might have been a bit sensitive with some of the

[05:17] but I took the time to explain it anyway people being sensitive on the internet I've never heard I know um have I also understood that you are starting up some sort of school or something I I witnessed a was some post that you made

[05:31] uh tell us a little bit about that yeah no I'm not starting a school right away care about education quite a bit I taught uh being a writer and all that I think I mean I I can't lie I'll be candid so I had uh an academic

[05:47] institution here asked me to support them which I'm always open to but what I kind of looked at what they were asking for I was like you know like you could do this and then kind of of have to

[06:00] navigate the policy politics protocol people of this very um you know traditional establishment but I was like you could also in a few years just start to talk to people plant the seeds and really

[06:14] to people plant the seeds and really focus on like a very small um kind of Academy for you know imagine what we call cep and and University so college aged you know there's like if you're an

[06:28] entrepreneur I don't think you need to take the traditional path and when you are really really driven and you have a lot of stamina when you're around students who really are just coasting dialing it in could care less I realize

[06:42] you even though it's very representative of the world where you have followers but there's a difference between people who are like committed to their work but still have good intentions and we have a ton of those people on on the team and

[06:56] we need those versus those who really are like a drag so I was like I could probably just set up something where you know you have two tracks one that's more entrepreneurial for technology Founders and one that's more for

[07:10] storytellers who now with everything we talk on the show The democratization of media the no barriers to entry and so it was more as I was considering their was more as I was considering their proposal as I'm as I'm prone to do I put

[07:25] this feeler out and I said ultimately I just need somebody that knows the administration of an academic organization who would be able to help me figure out which licenses to get what permits to get and I would be a teacher

[07:38] I would be like an adviser and I would recruit and the idea would be yeah most of the teachers here would have to be entrepreneurial doesn't mean that they had to have started something that became successful but I mean to me it's

[07:50] always jarring I mean I was speaking in a classroom and I just said I I alluded like oh you guys have heard that not a single hand one up oh was going to burn down the classroom I was like you guys what are you doing like it's a trike

[08:04] term but it's a term you should know by 2020 [ __ ] five so at that point I was going to get involved again with a bunch of people that I project to be this and that I was like I could just do my own thing which by the age of 47 should be

[08:19] blazingly clear that is the way I should operate but I'm not starting it tomorrow it's just something that I've always considered cool well sign me up I think it so let's get into the subject of today episode we're talking about Miss

[08:31] Mojo and uh what you refer to as the dawn of the the woke era on YouTube so let's talk about that a little bit how do you define that when you say the woke era yeah so again I don't even yeah fair fair great question I I definitely don't

[08:45] want to come here and be like yo W is BS and like let's just go back to the origins I think like anything else at the roote at the onset originally there was a reason why even the concept of w came up I remember Publications like

[08:57] Mike and even BuzzFeed and others kind of like pushing that and the idea was of like pushing that and the idea was just to be alert to be awake woke awoken just to be alert to be awake woke awoken uh to be aware of both historical

[09:09] socioeconomic sociological anthropolog you know economic issues political issues that explain the males you know the the the kind of frictions we'll talk about American society which start off with a history of slavery you know a

[09:24] history of genocide against Native Americans but I then go let's hold on from somewhere else and they were killing each other like pros and so we seem to object but frankly they were all different they were also doing exactly

[09:39] what the bad whites from Europe did so what what's your hypocrisy right so I'm like again Chris Rock is like ash calm down like you're offending everybody now too much so as much as yeah I think a country that started off with slavery

[09:53] and never originally got let's say the uh acres and I forgot in my interview with SP but it was like they were all promised you know land to get a like okay there's a lot of Injustice that's in roted in American history but I think

[10:08] in roted in American history but I think like anything else the 2010s just went to an extreme so everything even if it has Merit like I believe in climate change but when it gets weaponized then you go

[10:22] hold on this seems a bit like BS or now you know but you don't throw the baby out with the bath water you know the the things at the root of like the woke movement like just Justice fairness equality um I've always believed in and

[10:36] but the whole Dei became a joke because one a bit like Innovation you can't just Silo it and be like I'm in charge of Dei who is you who like I'm in charge of Dei who is you who is you let me guess you're a black or a

[10:51] lesbian or there's somebody that it's comical that some senior manager comical that some senior manager basically hired and put you in a corner without really giving you any power so the entire premise of how this went

[11:04] about is faulty you don't realize it you're being set up to fail it's a fat criticize Dei I'm not actually criticizing the tenants of Justice I'm criticizing the overall [ __ ] of these corporations that are fickle

[11:20] solely in the pursuit of profit zero principles um and and you see it right but so I think that's now to bring it back to watch mjo we are ultimately a curator we are ultimately a tast maker we are ultimately you know summarizing

[11:36] information and making it entertaining so to speak so I always go you want to be sensitive and aware of sociological Trends and changes but yeah

[11:48] you don't want to just be like you know fad dour um and you know I've always said specifically with like de and and the whole woke stuff it was you had to really just have an open mind an open heart heart an open Spirit to listen to

[12:01] people you disagree with so personally the reason why I found the whole Dei the reason why I found the whole Dei woke stuff a bit caricature esque is it were the most close-minded people that I encounter in business you know

[12:16] like I'm very open to any idea I like to listen to people that have very different points of view there's nuggets of what they say that makes sense but I was like man these are the most close-minded mofos ever I don't like

[12:28] these people can't be taken seriously there's no compromise there's no empathy you're a racist or sexist or a bigot and I'm like you know what wrap it up go [ __ ] off you're wasting everybody's time

[12:40] and you're not taken seriously and you see it now I laugh every time I see a corporation scale back di because they were never serious about it to begin with yeah we are starting to see a shift back back to the to the median I think

[12:54] in some ways right now how did all of this back in 2016 influence the decision to start a Channel like Miss Mojo which is Catered more towards a female audience and while while you answer that maybe we can ceue up a clip that we have

[13:06] on the very first video on the Miss Mojo Channel let's do it yeah so I'm assuming and this is like a weird first one because Miss Mojo was actually going to

[13:18] because Miss Mojo was actually going to be uh entertainment so I'm a bit befuddled although sometimes the first video we publish isn't there's not there's not like a big method to the madness it might have been a practical

[13:30] reason but so yeah so here's the truth 20056 when I kind of had the first business plan um okay this might have been from our topic Series where we showc other channels yeah so this that's the context so this is a Rebrand from

[13:43] started off this this thing called topics but it was TPX Roman numeral 10 and it was like topics of interest but the idea was to Showcase other channel so we would wanted to the same way we were curating Hollywood movies and and

[13:57] songs and games we wanted to Showcase other channels so we start off with workouts but setting that aside so in in the original business plan of watch Mojo I always had like additions for we'll call it you know men 18 to 34 women 18

[14:12] to 34 kids yada yada I mean look I wanted to if we had the right editorial we've been approached to basically have like people say this our black viewers Mojo I'm like I am going to do black Mojo I'm like if you want to partner and

[14:27] come as an editorial lead we could consider it so long as it makes sense and the question of whether it makes sense or not is a whole other question like does a Canadian edition of watch Mojo makes sense maybe but I don't

[14:40] know you know we even I think had the queer Mojo URL because I was like that might make sense I could see how that demo might want its own brand but in any case we I had an idea to serve our statement of purpose is here to serve so

[14:54] I always had this desire to kind of have positive communities serving fans of things that they're interested about whether it was Hobbies activities franchises and it was becoming abundantly clear that you kind of as a

[15:07] know and you're passionate about so we start off covering again I always joke Seinfeld Aussie Osborne etc etc and it that the content that I was greenlighting and recommending and then

[15:20] ultimately the team would recommend was all male franchises for lack of better word Star Wars yes there's a lot of women that love Star Wars Star Trek Batman but the demo is what it is it's predominantly male and so if ever like

[15:34] let's say I was like hey you know what like One Direction may not be my cup of they got some good music why don't we cover it it was pretty clear or Glee you know like Glee was a very popular show not my cup of tea I loved sex in the

[15:49] city but even I knew that like if you put sex on the city on watch Mojo the hardcore gamer fan who's watching Call of Duty or top 10 mega Death track uh if all of a sudden they see top 10 you know reasons why Samantha is is queen or top

[16:02] 10 reasons why One Direction is is the next Rolling Stones which they're not but they were very talented I was like this is not going to be a fun Community it's not going to be a fun experience if you're a fan of these uh people or

[16:15] groups you know if you go and in the comment section if you have some guy who's like [ __ ] on you for liking Justin Bieber I was like yeah I don't was all about putting myself in the shoes of the viewer the user experience

[16:29] were like you're a sexist you're gendering and I knew these people were I want to choose my words carefully juvenile uh inexperienced juvenile uh inexperienced immature uh morons you know but at the

[16:44] same time it was the era and people wanted just a big free-for-all people were just like anything goes anything comes and I was like yeah you're kind of an idiot because you know if let's say if I had the time I had an 8-year-old

[16:57] girl who was on YouTube and she would go watch you know top 10 Victorious moments who's going to make some inappropriate comment about you know Ariana Grande and thing and I was like that's not what we're trying to build right yeah in any

[17:13] case yeah it makes a lot of sense when you when you talk about like Building A in a better way it makes a lot of sense to have a dedicated channel for people who like those types of things um we should be putting up a poll on our on

[17:27] the watch Mojo YouTube page uh we want to know aside from the watch uh we want to know aside from the watch Mojo Channel itself what is your uh other favorite Mojo channel is it Miss Mojo watch Mojo UK unveiled Mojo plays

[17:40] provide four options so if there's another one that you like uh plan or down in the comments and let us know we'll revisit that towards the end of what's your favorite other nonat mro channel uh

[17:55] espanol no just I saw Ivon write that in the chat chat there just wanted to represent espanol for a second I'd have to say Mojo plays because that's the one hired so you're so self Center no I'm joking I'm joking so I like um I

[18:11] personally always have fancied no not context Modo travels I I did enjoy moo travels there's so much more that I feel that could have become Co obviously curtailed its trajectory but I would say probably after watch I mean I like Miss

[18:23] moo quite a bit but miss mjo when it started I think the topics were more in my sandbox of things that I like that surpris some people but now obviously it's gone much more you know deep Niche Niche anyway but uh yeah so I would

[18:39] probably say if I wasn't like the editorial lead on context which at best editorial lead on context which at best is on semi retirement right now uh I like obviously entrepreneurship and all of that stuff but because I'm kind of

[18:52] biased I would recuse myself and go with travels that's fair uh we have a special guest to bring in uh today Emily Bron will be joining us she is a longtime watch Mojo employee and has been with Miss Mojo since the very beginning

[19:06] welcome to the show Emily thanks for joining us thanks for having me hi there how are you uh I'm good I was lurking and I was waiting for Miss Mojo to come

[19:19] up as one of your favorite channels either of you so you failed the test I kidding good point this is this tells you how much we practice this

[19:31] anyway yeah so we have another clip which is the first uh Miss Mojo video to hit a million views so maybe we can check that out and uh while that's being pulled up uh maybe Emily can give us a little insight oh this one's going up

[19:43] little insight oh this one's going up with audio okay never mind false alarm how how have you noticed it being similar and different to the watch Mojo similar and different to the watch Mojo audience Emily well I I mean just coming

[19:56] from a person who greenlights the topic and stuff like that it has been interesting what common ground both watch Mojo and Miss Mojo have and then how Miss Mojo could cover the topic differently whether it's a different

[20:11] differently whether it's a different character we Spotlight or um a different sort of like more emotional moments as opposed to action moments of a particular franchise or something like that um and that's been kind of finding

[20:26] out our Niche uh but then there's also obviously certain demos like animation is a huge thing for us uh Broadway is a huge thing for us those are sort sorts

[20:38] of things that watch Mojo dipped its toe in uh certainly before Miss Mojo's existence but ever since it's kind of been our wheelhouse maybe that's my fault probably is I have a question how you avoid the accusation of pandering or

[20:55] like what what I was accused of like the gendering the stereotyping even me I is and I like One Direction I like Justin Bieber you know for what that genre is I like everything Love Sex in the City so I'm not like it's not a

[21:07] like oh let me guess everything's going to be pink and I was like uh you know I the you know but but how do you address that like do you think it's fair or is that like do you think it's fair or is it um I mean if you're doing something

[21:22] right there are always going to be critics uh that is kind of the rule of critics uh that is kind of the rule of the world but I do think we come from a place of we're as we're as big fans of the stuff we're talking about as anybody

[21:35] the stuff we're talking about as anybody else so it's it's very genuine and I for instance because we published a video on her yesterday like huge fan of hers myself so I know what personally I would like to see so it comes from a

[21:51] place of hey going and watching all of the AOS tour uh like live streams of somebody at the con it's grainy and stuff like that does give a certain amount of authority to say I'm a fan this is for you as a fan and it's coming

[22:07] this is for you as a fan and it's coming from not a place of conflict uh or from not a place of conflict uh or trying to incense the audience um and it just happens that certain topics might be able to live both on Miss Mojo and

[22:21] watch Mojo we definitely have weekly discussions like Rob and I for instance discussions like Rob and I for instance have a weekly discussion about what what covering Snow White this week both in very different ways I'm very curious

[22:35] what is the way on watch Mojo and what is the way on Miss Mojo well I can speak to the watch Mojo uh side that it's a little bit probably more critical than the Miss Mojo side uh to put it mildly but uh

[22:48] yeah yes and ours is differences between the animated version and the liveaction version so you know what what you just said as an example I think capture a lot of both our little world YouTube really

[23:01] what's happening in America and the world so when Trump was running this time I said it's his election to lose and when people are like why why do you don't like him the guy's a felony has no

[23:14] you know positive characteristics of principal loyalty or those things I go but he is because of Mark Bernett what people assume to be a successful person they don't view Kamala as a leader rightfully or wrongfully they view him

[23:27] telling you what what I see is the weather I'm not saying I like rain or I like snow but I did say that 2020 this the point I want to make I go 2026 is going to be America's 250-year birthday and I go there's always a regression to

[23:41] the mean where like Clinton was the opposite of um Bush Papa and then Bush son was the opposite of Clinton Obama was the opposite of bush and you see where I'm going like there's always like a regression Trump versus Obama Biden

[23:56] versus Trump so I was like I don't think think that Americans really want to have another four years of kicking themselves and being like apologetic about what it is to be American and I think that people wanted to kind of celebrate

[24:10] America and that's why they want with Trump this was the spirit and I'm not saying I agree with all of that but I'm just saying that is the way that was my read so for me it was about celebrating franchises even early on when we used to

[24:23] do like top 10 artists who are hated it wasn't mean you know like we would cover Justin Bieber as top 10 reasons why Justin Bieber is hated but it was like I would tell the team it should be more of a roast you should have that kind of

[24:38] feel where we're still kind of like celebrating them but making fun of them celebrating them but making fun of them right so for me early on that was the idea and hearing you I kind of was like like a father that's like oh wow the kid

[24:50] grew up to kind of what you wanted that was the point I think it's totally fine and fair for watch Mojo's editorial to say hey what were you thinking Disney

[25:02] you cast an actress in this role who clearly is antagonistic with everything that this brand and this character let's say you know um you know represents at least in in in media interviews and all that what were you thinking how do you

[25:17] franchise and how do you think the fans are going to react but we still I understand for Miss Mojo then that gives us the ability to kind of cover both

[25:29] don't care about the noise and the politics behind so they get kind of almost like just a nostalgic from nostalgic to now but then watch modjo could kind of get there a bit more in your face a bit more raw raw and it kind

[25:43] of gave us that optionality so hearing this example again I'm like wow you know I understand why early on people were a bit critical but it kind of the the the recipe worked you know the the the ingredients all came together and do you

[25:57] no I was going to move on to something else you feel and I want the truth I what you think I want to hear but do you think Miss Modo makes more sense in

[26:10] 20156 or in 2025 uh 2025 absolutely um job security does not depend okay great cool I needed it said plain plain and simple um yeah I

[26:25] it said plain plain and simple um yeah I think honestly as just a person walking think honestly as just a person walking through the world we can have healthy discussions disagreements stuff like that but sometimes after a hard day at

[26:39] work you just want to watch something about something you like uh and that's about something you like uh and that's what Miss Mojo is very much trying succeeding in some cases maybe needing to improve in others what we're what

[26:55] we're doing so yeah I mean what I what I will always tried to challenge the Miss like there's people who work on both it's not that siloed at all um although the teams do a very good job of keeping each brand true to their editorial kind

[27:09] of beacons on that it's like The Best of Both Worlds but yeah I mean I always viewed it as you know you had Time Magazine like that's the watch Mojo and then you had people that's the M Mojo which actually became even bigger you

[27:23] didn't know this but when I was researching time like a decade ago and reading the book from its founder people was probably the most successful magazine of all time and so I've always challenged a team I'm like I don't say

[27:36] you guys or gals but mean you know you folks I'm like there's no reason why shadow of a watch Mojo you know like we could have called it anything you know it's just the team originally voted for Miss Mojo and I was like yeah I love it

[27:50] um but I do think that the runway of Miss Mojo is so much bigger and so yeah no it's it's it's an exciting kind of property to have and you know each year when we start off I I tell the team I'm like do you have what you need to

[28:03] succeed you know do you have what you need to to do what is the line I say do need to to do what is the line I say do you have what you need to do what you you have what you need to do what you want to do basically anyway Rob I hijack

[28:15] the conversation so this whole podcast is kind of revolving around watch Mojo's 20th anniversary but miss Mojo will actually be celebrating their 10th anniversary next year and so it's had quite a story history as well what's the

[28:29] evolution of the content and the channel been like over the past nine years been like over the past nine years now um well uh We've definitely delved into very weird territory sometimes that is me coping to that uh having more

[28:47] ranking all of the Disney Renaissance movies on camera uh if you ever watch that you will get a sense of my love for Disney but probably my inability to deal with conflict um and disagreement um and we

[29:04] started off doing stuff that it was specifically catered to a female demographic trying out to see if the niche on YouTube was telling people what niche on YouTube was telling people what YouTube videos to watch uh or to

[29:19] highlight girl bands in television uh those I think those are actually the first two videos we ever did but now we're we highlighting covering the Met Gala and the Oscars the day after by covering the best red

[29:34] carpet looks which is much like you said kind of going in the the People magazine that sort of coverage um that's definitely evolved we didn't always do definitely evolved we didn't always do that um we did have a couple of versions

[29:47] of us on camera talking about the looks at the MTV VM and stuff like that so at the MTV VM and stuff like that so it's it's evolving and as people want something different from their YouTube videos people wanting more on camera or

[30:02] wanting longer form that's something that we're obviously trying to respond to as we notice the trends and as we notice what we ourselves want to watch when we're not working uh so those are those are a couple of the things it's

[30:17] thing if somebody comes into a meeting come Monday and says I really like this show we're going to have a chat about it and see why you like it and then

[30:29] honestly cover that angle because do you view Miss mojo as having to stay in that lane of movies TV shows or you know because watch Mojo we have that not struggle but like that conversation do you think Miss Mojo stereotypically

[30:46] because historically you also have lifestyle and travel in women's Publications but YouTube is very Niche so it doesn't really make sense either but do you feel that like Miss Mojo has more permission to Branch out or are you

[30:59] like no no no if if you had your way you would keep Miss moo really really focused on movies and you know fandom less than communities of other stuff um I mean we've definitely tried to make them hybrids where a couple of

[31:14] to make them hybrids where a couple of newer series we've worked on are how uh historical figures have been represented in media uh so there is coupling how

[31:26] Cleopatra how you might study her in a history class but then also how she's history class but then also how she's been portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor and um on the show Rome and all of those things so it kind of it doesn't seem

[31:38] dissonant to what our regularly scheduled programming is uh but it it covers more into the history Camp of things that's definitely something that we have dipped our toen are aiming to do

[31:53] more of we resurrected the Mojo notes series that was kind of ecliff notes uh series that was kind of ecliff notes uh that watch Mojo did several years ago um yeah we are attempting to figure out what people like in travel videos as

[32:09] well like I you know getting mojo travels a little bit back on the ground but through Miss Mojo thought you'd be happy to hear that um motion so a question for you tell me if you're like this is crazy Ash keep it

[32:25] to yourself or you're like I get it so my daughters good at volleyball so as I passionate sport fans you know the know there was a Netflix show I think about the Nebraska team or whatever long

[32:38] organize some tournament um and just invite a bunch of teams a bit random from different schools in New England Ontario Quebec The Province state where we're in um and just whatever Miss Mel could be a

[32:53] sponsor you know cuz 10 years ago one of my buddies was like my daughter is going to a cheer competition it was like a couple sure if watch mjo is the right brand to be like sponsoring a bunch of teenage

[33:06] if I walk in a meeting and I'm like I want to organize a volleyball for teenagers you'd be like ash recalling the FBI that looks a bit weird but it's but if I came to you and said I think that could be good for visibility it's a

[33:20] know I'm super into it myself I used to play volleyball and so are you like yeah that doesn't make sense because it's movies or TV or are you like no we kind the brand um no that does make sense I mean

[33:36] brand um no that does make sense I mean I can speak more to hockey games um and I can speak more to hockey games um and stuff like that watching that uh stuff like that watching that uh sponsorship is a useful way to kind of

[33:49] show what what you believe in uh it even if it's not necessarily we're going to do like best volleyball teams of whatever um whatever um section uh but uh yeah like I I do think

[34:03] section uh but uh yeah like I I do think that it it kind of represents the can sponsored the Islanders of the NHL so it was just visibility all right that might be on a later show robs like note to self we're

[34:15] doing a volleyball tournament I'm maybe I don't have the height for volleyball one I don't have the hand eye coordination so don't do that for me I didn't think you guys would be on the field but anyway good I was picturing a

[34:31] watch Mojo volleyball team competing against maybe high schoolers maybe we could compete against high school maybe maybe be the only time we win yeah I'm kidding um Miss Mojo has also been kind of a Pioneer for the watch Mojo brand in

[34:43] some ways shorts come to mind in that Miss Mojo was one of the first channels the first channel to have big success with shorts um so are there any other ways that you feel Miss Mojo has kind of like led the way in terms of editorial

[34:56] for the whole company uh yeah um I mean there's there's angles of lists that we have brought to the four um the the five and five so if ever

[35:10] you have like five good and then five trash those were started on the Miss Mojo side of things um it sounds like my birthday card for my kids I'm kidding oh birthday card for my kids I'm kidding oh no kid joke it's just five negative I'm

[35:24] no kid joke it's just five negative I'm kidding okay um but I mean regarding kidding okay um but I mean regarding shorts while the the format of it is same the same for both I think Miss Mojo's been really good at making it

[35:37] still matter that it's a video and not just a still image of a particular topic so there's still some semblance of Storytelling or information being Storytelling or information being imparted uh so that's been like a huge

[35:51] conversation with both sides when making shorts because I think it it can be easy show a side by side when there's yet another remake of a beloved 80s property but can that just have been a still could this have just been an email you

[36:06] could this have just been an email you know um I think that that is why our approach has been really successful like it's not um something we want to keep it's not um something we want to keep hidden from everybody else uh so there's

[36:19] that um is the community still that much I just love is the community still as positive as it was like I remember a decade oh hell yeah yeah it's really positive I love that yeah so it's an

[36:32] know social scientists are going to study this you know like in ancient I mean in the future they'll be like in the ancient times in the year 2000 there was this little community that was positive that was not toxic and negative

[36:46] the Miss Mojo it's like Pompei you know anyway I hope it's not like pompe I hope anyway I hope it's not like pompe I hope it's not that I agree for sure I'm kidding um so what's the future looking like for Miss Mojo where do you it going

[36:58] over the next few years um well uh I think we're veering years um well uh I think we're veering more into essay style longer form uh more into essay style longer form uh we've done a few Iceberg related videos

[37:12] this year so we did reality TV for instance um delving into the CD instance um delving into the CD underbelly past the cursory surface level stuff that one might know about reality TV um so I think we're we're

[37:27] experimenting with seeing us a lot more on camera uh having each entry be a recommendation of a particular staff member uh it's honestly in an age of

[37:40] anonymity and you just shoot the thing into chat GPT and call it a day um there is also a reaction to you want to see more of the messiness more of the the

[37:52] humanity that's behind all of the stuff that's being worked on and put on the internet so yeah longer form more on camera your first just that point our first topic you know we did the video on influential

[38:05] expanded I mean that was a bit more representative in that I was a bit more setting up some guard rails like usually there's a whole team researching and I'm not even involved which is fine you guys do a great job but I when I actually

[38:20] explained the method to The Madness of like why we included poets and not just like military people but also like we thought of like you know the mathematician versus the author you know who was more influential or like the

[38:33] who was more influential or like the prophet versus the the the original King oh okay that's really helpful interesting so people do want that and worked I have a question I'd ought to put you on the spot but like again like

[38:47] I I'm a student of media history and all that and so like on average if you were to take fortune or watch Mulo any kind of like mainstream is brand you're gonna get like a representative like you know 60 40 male or female depending on what

[39:02] it is and you're going to get maybe 10% lgbtq uh readership it's pretty constant you know like of course if you're like gay magazine you might have 90% LGBT but

[39:14] like most Publications so when we had watch Mojo early on I would detect that the percentage was 10 15% nothing outlier would you agree that Miss Mojo

[39:26] has a higher percentage of lgbtq viewers yeah that was always okay so how do you how do you navigate that where again you don't want to Pander you're aware that there's this bigger constituency um you could also

[39:40] eventually Branch out and have you know we had we didn't use queer Mojo wisely we had we didn't use queer Mojo wisely we used um not glow was it what was the we had a channel on snap it was Mojo glow I believe okay there you go so okay

[39:53] so my point was we did dip our toes in that but how do you like think of that represent not so much representation in a bad way like a checklist but where sorry to be super stereotypical but if you're doing sassy characters you know

[40:08] may not be gay that you include but knowing that you have this bigger readership I'm just curious how do you guys navigate guys navigate that well I mean it does depend on the

[40:21] actual IP or like show we're covering because that definitely factors in we cover rupal's drag race to the point that drag queens who were featured on the show say that they're fans of ours uh so I mean I hope that speaks for

[40:36] itself uh that it comes from a genuine place and even if it's playful ribbing which if you've ever watched rupal's drag race they do um so that's that's an aspect of it I mean like in the The Sassy example there are multiple

[40:53] discussions behind the scenes of deconstructing what do we mean when we say sassy what do we mean when we have a particular angle that we're discussing uh are we accidentally backing ourselves into a stereotype Corner um so having

[41:11] that discussion is healthy um and then we just pick best for for instance uh as we just pick best for for instance uh as an adjective but um yeah I think the way of not pandering is having a very Frank conversation there are members of the

[41:26] conversation there are members of the LGBT qia plus um Community who work with me on Miss Mojo topics as well so it's you know a question of sitting back you know a question of sitting back listening um as it is with anything else

[41:41] uh just assess an area I've struggled when I get and these are usually over the years so they're not just like an industry ad exac or publisher um who whether they're gay lesbian whatever and they ask me they're like why don't you

[41:56] actually then have it and I'm like okay you're coming from a good place the instant we would do that we would get a lot of heat so I'm like you also need the right voice and I'm like you know I'm not you know I may be

[42:10] empathetic to certain concerns and priorities and whatever causes but I'm like I can't pretend to be that person so yeah um but yeah Miss mjo I always kind of felt that that was uh a bigger kind of segment of the viewership and

[42:24] just was curious how you guys navigated okay okay in good hands thanks awesome well uh it's great to see how far Miss Mojo has come and uh the bright future ahead so

[42:38] looking forward to see seeing where the channel goes next and uh yeah we're here with you thanks so much for having me it's been a pleasure thanks all right so we have our poll results in we asked aside from watch Mojo what Mojo channel

[42:55] do you watch the most and 50 % said Mojo plays not that I should this not that I because there's a lot of crossover with you manipulated the data I had nothing to do with it I am not surprised I am really not surprised I think that makes

[43:10] a ton of sense it's very representative with you know what there's there's a lot of cohesion between the watch Mojo crowd and the Mojo plays crowd I think um second place was M Mojo with 38% so not

[43:23] a small number either and then 7% espanol and 3% watch Mojo UK uh so yeah that's that um let's do a little preview of next week's episode

[43:35] we're talking about watch Mojo's 2020 plan uh what can you say about that well yeah so about a decade ago we were like mid 2010s and I was like okay we've had a really good run now after the early uh challenging year so it was all about you

[43:49] know iterating um you know disrupting ourselves and you know coming up with evolutionary revolutionary ideas and there was a lot of ideas inhouse and from partners and history rhyme so a decade

[44:02] later we're working on watch mol 2030 we're going to be betting on and that's one reason why I launched like the open one reason why I launched like the open to work. TV uh form Google form where

[44:16] applicants who are looking for new challenges should be applying I used to get 10 to 20 emails like that a week and imagine if I came to you I was like hey resume you know it's just benign as

[44:28] trying to be helpful you're like okay I I view you as a colleague as a teammate but from your perspective you're like why is my boss asking me to review this guy going to replace me you know so I was just like it's easier if it all goes

[44:40] in a central place and everybody can access and then similarly inside pitch. TV which we will be launching sooner than I even thought because there's been a lot of traction for people pitching ideas so next week we'll dive in we'll

[44:53] look at Reinventing yourself disrupting yourself not resting on your Laurels you good intentions um but we do drive people crazy because there's this restlessness inside us and it's a disease it's a

[45:06] great thing but it's it's you got to be careful you're never content like you you have very limited wants you have very limited needs you're not in it for materialistic but you do have these insecurities you have this fuel fire

[45:20] insecurities you have this fuel fire inside of you and I admit that I could be a bit annoying in that sense you know because I'm very supportive I'm very patient as well but I'm also always looking to try things and do things um

[45:33] want to be comfortable and and complacent like as a human nature so understands that you have to take risks and innovate but to actually get that

[45:45] done change means you do piss people off you know there's friction and so another theme as always I talk about is Force versus finesse you know you could come in and if you want to untie a knot like Alexander the Great you could take your

[45:59] time to untie it properly most people don't have the patience he didn't so he took a sword cut it and said this is the way I cut it no questions asked right so um yeah we'll we'll make it informative instructive and try not to make anybody

[46:13] cry great looking forward to that no tears no tears necessary so we'll see you back here next week same time same place and uh until then take care everybody cheers than Ash thank you take care